Eyes of Smoke
by emmals16
Summary: His captain's down the way suffering and he can't seem to figure out the cause of it no matter how long he stares at Chopper's books. Companion piece to 'Fire of my hair and skin', but can be read alone.


**(Disclaimer: I own nothing related to One Piece nor any related characters)**

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"You can't keep forcing yourself to do this."

The pages of the book in front of Sanji are thin and worn. So much so that he fears he may rip them— his hands no longer as steady as they had been when he had gone to get the books in the first place. He recognized some of the words in the book, and if he were to glance over at the three other medical journals strewn across the kitchen counters, he would recognize even more.

"Stop ignoring me, Sanji." Usopp's voice cuts through the thoughts shooting through Sanji's mind. His brain feels jumbled enough as is, and he's too focused to even contemplate what the sniper could even be talking about.

Sanji doesn't respond, but he doesn't have to, "Leave him be, Usopp."

Robin's response does little to quell Usopp's irritability.

Sanji flips another page.

He doesn't understand. Sanji works with ingredients. Works with herbs and spices— a lot of which could even be used for their medicinal qualities. He's well aware about nutrition and health and everything in between, so he wants to tear his hair out at the fact that he can't seem to pinpoint the poison and how to lessen the symptoms at the least.

He lost hope hours before at finding the actual cure.

Sanji had gone down to the library with the thought in his mind that he'd be able to figure out a way to cure whatever had infected his nakama. Chopper was with Zoro and Brook on a completely different island. They'd dropped them off— sure, it was close to the one that the rest of them had gone ahead to for their own reasons, so it didn't seem like that big of a deal, but now…

After researching for hours the symptoms in one of Chopper's old books on poisons— _blindness, deafness, nausea, irritability, burning sensation, internal bleeding, fever, confusion, hallucinations, fatigue_ — or, at least the symptoms they all _knew_ about, he had come back with nothing. Nothing to show for sitting at one of those tables alone with the pressure of his crew's hopes and fears resting on his shoulders.

He had come back to his kitchen empty-handed— dragging along more research notes and books to continue. He'd _of course_ continue. He'd _make_ himself understand.

"We should have gone back and forced that guy to tell us what he did."

Usopp again, voice muffled as though he had his head resting in his hand. Sanji sighs in response, flipping another page.

"We had tried, bro, remember?"

Sanji had forgotten Franky was in the room with them. His large presence should have been plenty to remind Sanji of the three people sitting at the kitchen table only feet away from him. It clearly wasn't.

"I remember us _trying_. We left, though without—"

"We were wasting too much time," Robin snaps viciously, silencing herself directly after and continuing in her more normal and calm tone, "We had to focus on getting back to Chopper."

"She's right," Franky again, "We were spending too much time looking for that dude— and we didn't even know if we'd find him."

"He might've known something about it, though."

'Causes _Blindness'_ is written on the page, underlined multiple times and Sanji feels his hope becoming rekindled once more. Reading further— seeing the other words that definitely did not match their situation— that hope dwindles back down to nothing.

Sanji exhales thickly, rubbing his palms into his eyes tiredly, glancing at the various herbs he'd fished out of every nook and cranny of his kitchen and the infirmary.

"Or he might not have," Robin responds to Usopp, "The village doctor couldn't help. He knew nothing about it. We all wanted what was best for Luffy and the majority of us chose that the best course of action would be to find doctor-san."

"But that's—"

A loud crash sounds from outside the kitchen. Sanji clenches his fists and hears Robin breath out a remorseful, ' _oh no'_ before more yelling echoes throughout the ship.

Usopp is the only one to get up. He charges for the door after hissing out a, "Damnit," and leaves the kitchen in dead silence as the irritable sounds continue to pass through the walls. Sanji, Robin and Franky remain where they are— waiting in the inevitable tenseness of the room.

Sanji tries to block out Nami's cries and Usopp's yells so he can continue, but he ultimately fails.

And finally, what they had been waiting for comes.

"Sanji-kun."

Nami's breathless at the door, her entire frame quivering and her eyes moist as she stands waiting for him. Only then does he turn away from the books, and only then does he even send a single glance to anyone else in the room.

Robin and Franky both watch him sadly— knowingly as he lights a cigarette and passes by Nami through the door.

Usopp is outside of the infirmary, hands up defensively as angry and startled cries erupt from within the darkened room. The sniper's expression can only be described as a akin to a sibling watching his brother being physically ripped apart.

Despite Usopp's previous irritability towards Sanji, his face shows relief as the cook walks towards him— Nami in tow. They've been through this. They've gone through the motions plenty in the past 48 hours, and Sanji tries not to make it seem like a huge deal when he slowly opens the infirmary door.

The room is completely trashed. The glass of cabinets shattered and littering the ground, Chopper's stool is lodged into the wall, the bed is ripped and upside down— metal twisted and formed into something other than a frame, there's scratches everywhere— red littering some of the places the claw marks have gone down the wall. Amongst the wreckage, crouching on hands and knees in the corner, is their sweet and beloved captain.

Nami sobs. Usopp inhales sharply. Sanji blows a plume of smoke as he glides forward.

He doesn't bother speaking. He knows that Luffy wouldn't be able to hear him anyways. Sanji doesn't even bother acting in any certain way that would be considered comforting— it wouldn't matter to the captain at this moment.

Luffy must sense _something_ , for he jumps up on unsteady legs, cantering off to the side multiple times, before zeroing in on where he assumes his target to be. Sanji tenses instinctively as Luffy raises his fists and growls. But, the cook doesn't do anything other than blow a long plume of smoke right at his captain.

If Chopper were there, he'd throw a fit. Probably would banish Sanji from the infirmary for weeks on end.

Now, however, the simple wafts of smoke does wonders.

Luffy's rigid form loosens, closed eyes opening to slits as he tries to will himself to _see_ _something_. Sanji grimaces at the sight, but stays still. His breaths are rattling in his chest and his hair is disheveled beyond being considered just 'messy'. His hands are shaking like he's being electrocuted —blood running down his arms and chin and Sanji feels his heart quake in his chest at the sight.

It was a discovery that left all of them nauseous. The first time Luffy had panicked due to the poison's effects, Sanji had been the one in the infirmary. At first the cook had tried to verbally calm the captain, but when that didn't work Sanji was forced to hold Luffy down before he hurt himself. The struggle was short. Luffy's face— being shoved into Sanji's chest during the scuffle— softened into familiarity.

Not the familiarity of citrus, or of a library, or gunpowder or grease and oil. It was the familiarity of smoke— of fire and steam and the smoldering wreckage that it left behind on a battlefield full of hope and relief.

A familiarity that mirror's the current expression of their captain's face.

Luffy takes a single shaky step forward, arm reaching out.

"A-a..."

His foot catches on _something_ and the usually poised boy goes plummeting forward, breath lost in a gasp as he awaits for impact. Usopp and Nami both cry out in dismay.

Sanji's forced calm demeanor tears apart and he goes lunging forward to catch Luffy, and only realizes moments after having the young captain pressed against his chest that he had lost consciousness again. That's the reason Sanji went in there in the first place— to somehow calm Luffy back into a sleep that this poison seemed adament to disrupt consistently.

Now, though, knees pressed into the wooden floor with the limp form clutched to his chest awkwardly— with the wreckage to the extent Luffy generally wouldn't allow around them— Sanji feels sad.

And if water might be able to wash away to smell of smoke around them, Sanji's eyes don't seem to care.


End file.
